When did he?
by RedMallie
Summary: A short story from Three's point of view about him and the crew of the Raza.


When did he turn into her very own body guard? When did he start thinking that no matter if she needed him or not, he would make sure to be there, just a little to her left and a step back, in case she wanted him? More important than that, when did he start thinking of her as "his" to protect? When did he start to feel like _her_ back up?

As far as he and everyone else knew, she was the fucking captain—and leader, of the Raza. Smart and cunning and perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and of taking down a good number of other bastards if they got in her way. Her particular physical characteristics made her almost invincible, and yet, he would not stay back and leave her unguarded, on her own.

The Raza was a small crew after all was said and done. Most of the guys had somehow quitted the ship. One, he did not have much of a choice, to be honest, but he was gone. Four had been erased by Ryo Ishida. The scheming bastard had tried to negotiate with them, to trade what he said that Portia had confided him. Three was not sure what that was, but he knew that Two did not believe Ryo. She said that having had a glimpse of Portia's character from their brief encounters with her AU self, Two could not believe that the woman would put herself in a weak or compromised position with anyone. Even less at the hands of Ryo Ishida. And so, she had not hesitated to fight him when they finally got him in their ship. Three would have simply shot the guy, but Two wanted to give him an honorable death for old times' sake, so she fought Ishida. He was good enough to put in a few good moves and hurt her, but in the end, her nanites worked well, and he died.

Six was another unwillingly departing member of the crew. For all that he said he wanted to make things better and right their old wrongs across the galaxy, Six had wanted to stay on board longer. Especially because he felt he had to "guide" the Kid into a path of good. Six had not had that chance after all. He had died in the explosion that bought them precious minutes to escape and regroup and take care of the last of the House of Ishida.

That left him as the only guy still alive from the group of males who awoke from stasis so long ago, and yet, not that long at all. What would that say about the Raza? The male crew had dwindled so much—the Robot had given him the statistics, 75%, not that he needed the number, though—and yet, the female population thrived. Even if he was saddened by the loss of One and Six, he could not feel bad for sharing oxygen with Two and Five. Also, he would always deny it, but he liked the Robot, but she did not need oxygen, so. The only problem was that the crew was small, and there were no clear options to hire reliable people anywhere. He frowned because he was reminded of Solara, the strong and very reliable bodyguard—in her case, her true profession. Adrian had gone into hiding and Solara would never leave him as long as the weird man needed her. She was a very loyal person, particularly to him. So, they could never get her on board, unless Adrian died, and she was very good at trying to prevent just that. Again, there were not enough people they could hire, even fewer that they could trust under the circumstances.

Things were weird and shaky everywhere in the galaxy with the black ships threatening everywhere and the corporations not wanting to collaborate in protecting the people. Civilians were being left to their own devices in all colonies, no matter which corporation supposedly was contracted to protect them. The casualties were growing day by day. The Raza knew that they could not help everyone, but they had also decided that they would do what they could for the less fortunate. The time gained with the sacrifice of Six had given the Raza opportunities to make connections with people in colonies and isolated industrial plants. Two had guessed that they would be the most exposed during combat and would feel abandoned by their respective sponsors, so the offer of help when the time came would win the Raza friends in the most unexpected places.

Five and the Robot had calculated or modeled or whatever the hell they called it which would be the colonies most at risk, and which would provide the best resources to keep the Raza going. Finally, all of them had accepted that it was a fact of life that they would need supplies and resources to keep them afloat. The crew had been trading with the colonies identified, profitably for a change, and they had done most of the necessary repairs on the ship so far. Two had devised a plan to keep stocking resources on some far-off areas on friendly colonies so that they would have access to parts for repairs, extra guns and ammo, and other things that would probably be scarce during war time. The Robot had fabricated a series of traps and triggers that Five had devised to keep their property untraceable and hidden. Five had also been working on reverse engineering the Blink Drive and the thing was about to purr in her hands just exactly like a little cat from old Earth would. He could not be prouder of his girl.

There he went again. "His girl"? Five was not his girl. By this time, the crew felt really as close as family, but they were just a bunch of crazies dumped together by luck, as he liked to say. Nevertheless, Five may not have been his daughter, but in the colonies that they visited, everybody believed she was his. Whatever their relationship, she was his to protect. People had learned the hard way not to even look at her wrong when she was anywhere planet side. He was usually there accompanying her since the Robot would be busy at the ship. In the chaos reigning around, rustlers, muggers, swindlers, all kinds of crooks, plus the bigger criminals, robbers, murderers, etc. were all out on the prowl. Five was one of the best pickpockets to be sure, but sometimes, evil just wanted to do evil, not to steal anything. More often than not, when they landed on those forsaken places, seeing a girl who looked like Five, meant a source of good money for a lot of truants, just like those brothers had thought long ago. Many a time, someone would try to grab her, but after that long-ago blunder, he wasn't letting himself be distracted by anything. And so, nowadays he just shot to kill.

The girl was growing fast and she had of course learned a lot from them all, so she could defend herself reasonably well. But still, she walked close to him all the time while on a colony. After a few dead bodies crumpled to the floor here and there, people had learned not to mess with them, or to be ready to take the fight to the last consequence. One time a guy, a thug, had managed to grab her and cop a feel at her breasts while they were walking towards a parts dealer's shop in a friendly colony. Three had quickly pulled him off her and shot a bullet in the middle of his hand. "Be grateful that we are amenable towards the people in this Colony—he said in his coldest and roughest voice—otherwise it'd be your brains people would be stomping on by now." He leaned closer to the thug who was holding the rest of his arm towards his chest, "we promised the leader of this shithole not to have incidents during our planet side time, so heed and never let me see you again, or I will forget my manners."

Although Five had learned the hard way to stay close to her crew while not on the ship, she honestly was able to protect herself much better now. Android and Two, and even Three had been training her to be safe and be deadly if she had to, and she was a fast learner. But when she was in engineer genius mode, as Three called it, she could forget herself while thinking of what she required to make the Raza be at its most formidable when it was needed. Everyone knew this and for that reason they always tried to be in the least crowded places and have someone with her at all times. Then again, Three usually appointed himself as her bodyguard or companion. He claimed that he was the least useful in terms of fixing things around in the ship, so he should be where he was the most useful. Besides, he knew that she enjoyed having him acting as her bodyguard. He could be annoying to her all the time onboard the Raza, but when not in space, he was just the amount of intimidating when all she wanted was to get to the dealer and get the parts requested. No matter that Two or the Robot were stronger than Three, not many people knew that, and the way he stood tall and menacing was a much faster deterrent than anything else the others could do.

Sometimes, he thought that the only things he contributed to the Raza were muscle and loads of intimidating factor, and he huffed knowing that those were not really great assets among this particular crew. Two and the Robot were formidable fighters, almost invincible ones, to be honest, especially since Two's nanites had been upgraded. Besides, they had cunning and logic that gave them great advantage in many scenarios. Five might physically be a small girl, but her brain was a thing of magic. He could not stop himself from calling it, and her, a jewel, something exceptional and precious. That girl could think her way in and out of the most complex situations, and with her big blue eyes, and her defensive and offensive skills, she was a deceptively strong force to reckon with. Three? He was a simple old-fashion human male. He was strong, fierce and fearless, bold and even cunning, too. But he would never be able to think as fast or as out of the box as any of his crewmates. He was what he was, and nothing more. He was the best shot yet, and that gave him special pride. Not even the Robot with her precise engineering was capable of shooting as well as he did. Two joked that he could shoot a bullet to ricochet three times before hitting his light switch panel off just to avoid getting up from bed. The Robot was flabbergasted about this uncanny ability of his, but they all agreed that it was a favorable asset during these troubled times. While Two was Five's strategy and knife throwing teacher, the Robot was her hand to hand combat teacher, and Three was her shooting trainer. He also taught her how to escape from bonds and how to fight dirty, and she had the most fun during those training sessions.

So, whenever they had a mission on the ground in rowdy planet areas, he would be Five's partner. He would protect the girl and make Two happy by knowing that she could trust him with the care of Five. What the hell? He wanted to make Two happy? How could anyone be happy in the times ahead? He should aim for keeping her safe and let everyone else be responsible for their own happiness. And yet, he could not hope but to be able to make them happy. Stupid son of a bitch, wasn't he? A romantic, after all?

Speaking of romance, since Sarah's consciousness had been sent off with the rebelling androids, the Robot had asked him if he was still happy on the Raza? He usually deferred the question or replied with a joke about the quality of the meals or something equally idiotic. Why did he not bluntly answer that he was indeed quite happy? He did not want to voice his reasons, but he clearly knew that they had nothing to do with Sarah's consciousness or whatever she was now. In fact, he wished her well. He had felt weird when they interacted using the Kid's mental device, even during those apparently satisfying virtual sex sessions. To Three, the man he was now, she was not real, and he had no feelings for her. The man that had felt something for Sarah was gone. Three did not know the woman who awoke to just die shortly after anyway, and he had no particular interest in getting to know her intangible self. She could have been ten times prettier and classier than Two while alive, but he was sure that she did not call to him the way Two's nanite-arranged hips did.

Of course, he would never admit to harboring those thoughts in front of the Boss Lady. He valued his life and manly parts too much. Plus, Two's body was not the only reason he wanted to make her happy and be her right hand. He had decided to be honest with the only person that truly mattered that much, of course, himself, and had accepted that he was the Manservant of the Raza, and he would deal with it.

That term was so absurd that it was funny. The Robot had coined it sometime after they killed Ryo. They were drinking together in the mess, and since he had no nanites to help him recover, he was getting drunk rapidly and sending lascivious and suggestive and not at all discreet insinuations to Two. They were spending time together as crewmates, and to prevent him from crossing the line in front of Five, Two moved to sit just behind him, effectively stopping his raunchiest commentary. He was too drunk to turn around and keep making passes at her. To his delight though, Two sat close to him and started playing with his hair. He leaned back and let her toy with him in that simple yet caring manner. The Robot could not fail to observe that he looked relaxed and almost like a tamed pet in the hands of Two. She said that, to many at that very moment, he would look as if he were the pet servant of the Captain of the Raza. She did not say it with malice even if her upgrades gave her the possibility to experience feelings and react to some things and situations. The Robot and Three had a playful yet easy relationship. They were always teasing each other, but they made a common front when someone tried to tease one or the other. Two had said that they behaved like siblings if that was possible. So, when Android called him a pet servant, he simply turned his head a little towards Two and slurred, "whatever you need, m´lady." Everyone laughed, but Two corrected them, "manservant in any case, not my pet," and so the term became their private joke from then on. When Three had fallen asleep in his chair, Five had pointed out that in fact, he would be seen as the envy of all men and not a few women in the galaxy being that he got to ride the Raza as the only male onboard. She could only speculate that the legends about Marcus Boone and his Raza sex mates would be as long as space was black. Unbeknown to him, Two pointed out that it was their luck that the man's protective or possessive instincts made him a loyal mate instead of a constant thorn on their side. Even though Two and Five remembered his early and short-lived mutiny long ago, he had evolved into the man they had now, a man they could trust with their lives.

So, Three admitted he had a certain _fondness_ for the females of the Raza. He could not imagine that the old Marcus would have that feeling, but then again, he was not Marcus anymore. Well, to some in the galaxy he still was. Since chaos reigned after the threat from the black ships, many information systems had been hacked and communication had been sketchy or lost. The rumors that had been spreading about the weakening of the crew were overrun by more urgent matters such as the imminent war. Given the fact that not a lot of people who had the dubious pleasure of meeting the crew of the Raza had survived the experience, however they acted now was their introduction to the planet colonies. The mythology that preceded the ship was also different now. They were not the animal creatures that the miners in the first colony described, but the tales told about a crew that was so formidable that only the sight of a few of them was enough to instill fear. In some places, they were respected, and even liked. The tales told about their fierceness and determination to kill anyone who betrayed them, but also about their loyalty to the ones who dealt them well. No one knew exactly how many members of the crew there were, since the Robot had maintained a network of old profiles of mercenaries whose location was unaccounted for that were filtered out whenever there was a data search. She and Five had also devised a way to project heat signatures in case there were scanners pointing to the ship whenever they were in the proximity of other people. The new lore said that if their captain let them loose, the crew could ravage any settlement in as short as two hours, but only if their leader set them off because of a deal gone bad or clear betrayal. That's why the only crew that usually visited the colonies were considered the representatives—the civil individuals, among the rest.

So, Three would be 'Marcus Boone', the heartless mercenary, in front of strangers, as long as the name that Two called in bed during climax was "Three". Yes, they had been having sex for a while now. They were _sex buddies_, he joked winking at her, annoying her. They were much more than that, but how to define what they were? That was complex and absolutely unnecessary. They were together, and he wanted to make sure they stayed together for as long as possible. He wanted to help keep the Kid safe and give her the opportunity to grow old as the Robot had told them she would. He even wanted to make sure the Robot would remain their friend and that she would also help protect Five from her own kind, the vengeful androids.

When did he start thinking, and feeling, this way? He did not know, but what was clear was that, the universe be damned, there was no way he could ever feel any different now.


End file.
